Sailing Era: Speedrunner’s Guide to Yun Mu

This guide was made as a thought exercise over how to speedrun Yun Mu, but should also be useful to those who just want to get through the character quick or people who are stuck and want to figure out what to do next.

Warning: This guide will, of course, be full of spoilers. I will be skipping the content of the cutscenes (they won’t even be indicated in the guide), as people can easily watch them if they want, but there will be more than enough hints to spoil part of the story.

You have been warned.

Note: Compared to my other guides, Yun Mu is shorter on money than the other characters. As such, I will be pointing out treasure to grab along the way. Some of these might be unnecessary from a speedrunning perspective, but better safe than sorry.

While Yun Mu’s first chapter/tutorial is less straightforward than that of other characters, when done properly you can blaze through it easily. There is a little luck involved, but it is pretty easy.

• Library
  1. Read Ryukyu Islands Travelogue
• Go to the Maritime Trade Bureau
• Go to the Shipyard
• Go to the Store
• Go to the Item Store
• Go to the Pier
  1. Assign Shen Shi as Lookout

  Note: Normally, you would want Shen Shi as Sail Master for speed, but You’ll be needing a Lookout for a lot of the game. As such, you’ll be leaving Shen Shi there for most of the game (apart from a brief Stint as Surveyor).

• Sail to Naha
  1. When doing so, pass below the island of Taiwan, and grab the treasure chest (20 000 gold and Laminar Armor) there.

  Note: This is one of the two chests that you must grab for speedruning purposes. The Laminar Armor sells for 80 000 gold by itself, so that’ll get you the goal of chapter 1 right there.

• Go to the Restaurant
  1. Talk to the Villager[/olsit]
  2. Go to the Gorwernment Office
     [olst]
  3. Get the Land Expedition Qualification Permit
• Go to the Post
  1. Take everyone (no need for a horse) and bring only supplies
  2. Go 5 North, 5 Northeast to find the Ryukyu Island Ruins
  3. Move once more to make the expedition run out of food.

  Note: You have just enough food to get there and do a single move afterwards, so you need not to lose any food from events or terrain. As such, you should be going 4N , 4NE, 1N, 1NE or something similar that leave you going through only two mountains and no swamps.

• Auto-Sail back to Zhangzhou
  1. Assign Shen Shi as Surveyor to do so
  2. Use the Ancient Nautical Chart: Ryukyu Islands to do so

  Note: This is the short span I was talking about before.

  Note 2: Fun fact. Once Auto-Sail has started, you do not need a Surveyor anymore.

• Go to the Maritime Trade Bureau
• Go to the Item Store
  1. Sell all the items you have.

  Note: Yes, that includes all the expedition equipment. While Yun Mu will be doing a number of those, you won’t be using any of them ever. It’s an extra 10 000 gold instead, and that’ll be a lot more useful in this game.

• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Buy a Shachuan, or a Chinese Sloop

  Note: The Shachuan takes priority. You need one of those as a flagship as the extra speed will have an impact. If there isn’t one available, don’t worry; you’ll have another roll of the dice in the next port you’re going to.

• Go to Pier
  1. Assign sailors to your new ship
  2. Put the Shachuan as your flagship if you acquired one.
• Sail to Hangzhou
• Go to the Restaurant
  1. Put Li Liyuan as Surveyor and Shen Shin as Lookout
  2. Recruit crew for the new ships you’ll buy

  Note Li Liyuan will be your Surveyor for the rest of the game, as you’ll be using Auto-Sail a lot in this run.

• Go to Shipyard.
  1. Buy as many ships here as needed

  Note: You’ll want, along the Returner Ship, a Shachuan and three Chinese Sloops. If there isn’t a Shachuan, you’ll want to reload (or wait a month, if you’re not speedrunning). if there aren’t enough Chinese Sloops, that’s less of an issue; you’ll be going back to Zhangzhou later and you can buy some there.

• Go to the Pier
  1. Assign crew to your new ships
  2. Put the Shachuan as your flagship if you haven’t already.
• Sail to Haizhou
  1. Grab the treasure (20 000 gold) north of the Yangtze River delta
  2. Go up the Yellow River and grab the Seed Plough opposite the Lower Yellow River Landing Site
  3. Grab the treasure (20 000 gold) on the east bank of the peninsula northeast of the Yellow River exit

  Note: You will need at least one of those for certain, and both aren’t far out of your way.

  Note 2: Given the time you just spent at sea, you may have gotten Garaba already. There are two cutscenes necessary for that, the first being after six days at sea, and the second a random amount of time at sea after that. Put him instantly as Sail Master as that’ll gain you time over the entire run.

• Go to the Equipment Shop
  1. Buy a Taoist Robe
  2. Buy a Kamal
  3. Use Trade Nautical Chart: Eastern Asia
• Auto-Sail to Zhangzhou

  Note: Yun Mu will require Humanities 5 and Music 3 later in the game, and this Taoist Robe will get you part of the way there.

• Go to the Shipyard if you don’t yet have 5 ships
  1. Buy as many ships here as needed
• Go to the Maritime Trade Bureau

Chapter two is long. Very Long (Proof: Steam forced me to split this in two sections as it was too long). You’ll be bouncing around Southeast Asia and parts of India for a long while, and once again Auto-Sail will be used as much as possible. This part of the chapter contains most of the moving around, and would also be preparing for the events of future chapters.

• Go to Restaurant
  1. Speak to Gu Wan and get a Peachwood Sword
  2. Level up Shen Shi to lv. 20 and give him Shipbuilding 3
  3. Level up Yun Mu to lv. 20 and give her Music 3
  4. Level up Garaba as much as possible and put all the points in Sail Control

  Note: You’ll need to unlock Shipbuilding 3 to modify ships, and Music 3 is required later this chapter (along with the extra Humanities from the Peachwood Sword). As for Garaba, extra speed is always welcome. If you aren’t speedrunning and have already completed Yoshitaka’s story, you can skip leveling Shen Shi, as you’ll be passing by Nagasaki and Yoshitaka starts with Shipbuilding 4. As such, do the leaveling there instead of here.

• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Modify Hull – Replace the Outdated Bow Gun by a Common Foremast Hard Sail on your flagship
  2. Modify Hull – Replace all Mapping Rooms on your sloops for Warehouses

  Note: Of course, if you are going with Yoshitaka, wait until you are in Nagasaki to do this.

  Note 2: This ship will never fight, so an extra sail is better than a useless gun.

• Go to the Store
  1. Buy all the Celadon and Tea Leaf available

  Note: you’ll need ten of each before you leave for Manila, so buy them now. If some end up in the Pier Warehouse, don’t worry; we’ll be coming back here before leaving for Manila.

• Sail to Nagasaki
• Go to the Inn
  1. Talk to Sailor
• Go to Pier
  1. Assign 25 Cargo spaces in total

  Note: If you’re going with Yoshitaka, don’t forget to do all the leveling and shipyard modifications after this. Also, put him as Sail Master, which will be worth it for the speed increase.

• Sail to Edo
  1. Do a detour by the northern part of Japan and grab Hidden Wolf Stream there
• Go to the Store
  1. Buy 5 Tortoise Shell
• Sail to Nagasaki
• Auto-Sail to Zhangzhou
• Go to the Store
  1. Buy Celadon (10 total needed)
  2. Buy Tea Leaf (10 total needed)
• Go to the Pier
  1. Transfer all the cargo from the warehouse to the ship if necessary

  Note: At the point, your fleet inventory should be full with 10 Celadon, 10 Tea Leaf, and 5 Tortoise Shell. You’ll need those in Manila soon.

• Sail to Manila
  1. Pass by Macao and grab the Gold Necklace discovery a little past the city on the coast.
• Go to the Moon Gaze Estate
• go to the Commerce Guild
  1. Accept the Purchase Contract: East Asian Specialties
  2. Submit said contract
• Go to the Pier
  1. Reduce your cargo capacity to 10

     Note: You won’t need more than than until the end of chapter 3, and you’ll have long voyages that’ll require more than the few supplies you had.

• Sail to Gia Dinh
  1. Go south south east from Manila first and grab the Dugong discovery at the South Eastern Fishery
  2. Grab the treasure (20 000 gold) near the middle of the North Eastern Coast of the island of Borneo
• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy all available Rice, and leave it in the Pier warehouse

  Note: You”l need a lot of rice later at the end of chapter 3 (30 units), so you’re better off starting to buy some now. You’ll be buying more each time you come by, and you can stop when you hit 30 units.

• Sail to Lopburi
  1. Grab the treasure near the thinnest part of the peninsula west of Gia Dinh (20 000 and Tribal Necklace)
• Sail to Jambi
• Sail to Aceh
  1. Grab the Strait of Malacca a little after the path opens up past Malacca from Lopburi
• Sail to Kolkata
  1. Grab the Manta Ray discovery from the East Indian Fishery on the way (South of Kolkata)

  Note: this might not be necessary if you’ve already gotten St. Elmo’s Fire. You will be spending those discoveries soon enough, so enough of them (7 at this point) are needed.

• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Sell your lowest hull Chinese Sloop
  2. Buy a speed 8 ship (probably an Arab Windsail Ship)
  3. Modify Hull – Put two Shrapnel Guns on your new ship
  4. Modify Hull – Replace the Mapping Room on your Shachuan with a Warehouse
• Go to Teahouse
  1. Recruit crew
• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy 5 Indian Calico

  Note: These are required for building a guild in Palembang.

• Go to the Pier
  1. Assign your new ship as your flagship
  2. Assign crew as needed
     Note: If you’re lucky, you recruit Hiyar in Kolkata when it is hit by a plague. If you do so, immediately put him as Lookout, with Shen Shi becoming your second Sail Master (that is, unless you have Yoshitaka as second Sail Master already).
     1. Sail to Puducherry
        1. Grab the treasure West of Kolkata at the mouth of the river (20 000 gold)
        2. Sail to Kochi
           1. Pass South of the island of Sri Lanka and grab the treasure at the Southernmost part of the Island (20 000 and Crown of Banten)
        3. Sail to Calicut
        4. Go to Item Store
           1. Buy Offshore Nautical Chart: India
           2. Buy Nautical Chart: Bay of Bengal
           3. Use all charts in inventory
        5. Sail to Ceylon

           The reason we explore all these port now is to speed up chapter three, as with those and the charts we will be able to Auto-Sail quickly when we are done with Southeast Asia at the end of chapter 2.

        6. Auto-Sail to Aceh
        7. Sail to Malacca
        8. Go to the Trade Center
           1. Buy 5 Pearl

           Note: These are also required for building a guild in Palembang.

        9. Sail to Palembang
        10. Go to the Governor’s Office
            1. Report 4 discoveries
            2. Get the Guild Establishment permit
            3. Start a guild using the materials we have on the ship
        11. Go to the Guild

Part two of chapter Chapter two is the part with combat. You’ll be fighting Aji’s fleet twice, and the first time can be especially difficult if you’re unlucky. You will be doing her entire quest in this part, and she’ll join in the end with Nasser.

• Go to the Pier
  1. Transfer crew until your flagship is at full crew
  2. Dock all ships save your flagship
• Sail to Malacca
  1. Claim the Southeast Asia Expedition Record as soon as you leave Palembang
  2. Fight Aji’s Fleet outside Malacca

  Note: This fight is really annoying. The strait of Malacca isn’t a place where you can move around well, and you are outgunned by Aji’s fleet. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to isolate the enemy and mow its crew down with your Shrapnel Guns. If not, you’ll be stuck in close range with three bigger ships and their crews will straight up murder you.

• Go to Trade Center
• Auto-Sail to Palembang
• Go to the Guild
• Go to the Bookstore
  1. Buy all Charts
  2. Use all Charts

  Note: No, the fact that we didn’t grab the ships from the dock is not an error. We’ll need them later, but right now there’s another fight coming, so they’re better off in the Palembang docks. We don’t need their cargo capacity for the moment anyway.

  Note 2: The charts here will be useful when coming back after chapter three, and especially at the end of chapter 4.

• Auto-Sail to Malacca
• Sail to Pattani
• Go to the Governoor’s Office
  1. Talk to the Governor
• Auto-Sail to Gia Dinh
  1. Stop the Auto-Sail before arriving in Gia Dinh, salvage the shipwreck in front of the city, then enter the city
• got to the Trade Center
  1. Buy all available Rice, and leave it in the Pier warehouse
• Auto-Sail to Pattani
  1. Use the communication Map
  2. Stop the Auto-Sail before arriving in Pattani, grab the treasure (Rose Banner and Official Letter) indicated by the map, then enter the city
• Auto-Sail to Lopburi
• Go to the Teahouse
  1. Speak to Nasser
• Auto-Sail to Gia Dinh
  1. Fight Aji’s fleet for the second time

  Note: This fight is a lot easier, as there’s room to dodge, and Aji has one less ship than she had earlier (clearly, she hasn’t been able to replace it). Mow her with your guns just as you did early.

• Go to Governor’s Office
  1. Report 2 discoveries
  2. Get Land Expedition Qualification permit
• If the the month has changed since last time you went to the Gia Dinh Trade Center (or it is the last day of the month), go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy all available Rice, and leave it in the Pier warehouse
• Go to Post
  1. Take four characters and a full load of food
  2. Go straight West to find the exclamation point (2NW, 2SW, 2NW). Try to dodge around events as usual.
  3. Take the first option each time when the pop up comes up
  4. Go back to town after that
• If the the month has changed since last time you went to the Gia Dinh Trade Center (or it is the last day of the month), go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy all available Rice, and leave it in the Pier warehouse
• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Modify Hull – Replace the two Shrapnel Guns by two Common Foremast Hard Sails on your flagship
  2. Repair ship if needed (if the are only slight damages, the auto repair will do the job)

  Note: There are only two mandatory fights in the entirety of Yun Mu’s story, and both are against Aji. As those are now passed, the guns are now useless, and as such you’re better off with something that’ll help with the mnay minutes of sailing you’ll have to do.

• Auto-Sail to Palembang
• Go to the Guild
• Go to the Library
  1. Equip the Peachwood sword and the Taoist Robe on Yun mu
  2. Euipq the Kamal on Li Liyuan
  3. Read The Overall Survey of the Star Raft

Chapter three is thankfully a lot shorter than chapter 2, especially given you have have already done part of what would have gone under chapter 3’s umbrella. You’ll just need to salvage a shipwreck, do an exploration, and visit a few ports, and you’ll be done.

• Use Zheng He’s Nautical Chart II
• Go to Teahouse if you lost crew in the two previous fights
  1. Recruit crew
• Go to the Pier
  1. Undock all the ships from the dock
  2. Assign crew so that all ships have their needed crew
• Auto-Sail to Ceylon
  1. Claim the India Expedition Record as soon as you leave Palembang
• Go to Teahouse
• Go to Buddhist Temple
• Go to Teahouse

  Note: You’ll need to go to the Teahouse twice as there’s two events that trigger on entering said Teahouse, and only one triggers each time. It is unfortunately the second we need, so we have to do both.

• Auto-Sail to Aceh
• Go to the Pier
• Sail to the shipwreck site South South East of Aceh
  1. Find the Buddha Skull Sarira
• Sail back to Aceh
• Auto-Sail to Ceylon
• Go to Governor’s Office
  1. Report 2 discoveries
  2. Get Land Expedition Qualification Permit
• Go to Buddhist Temple
• Go to post
  1. Take four people and only supplies
  2. Go straight north to the exclamation mark (10N)
  3. Go back to town after having grabbed the Galle Trilingual Inscription

  Note: That’s the last of the posts we will need to visit, and we won’t need to build another guild. As such, at this point, you can spend whatever discoveries you have for extra cash if needed.

  Note 2: Using the two Zheng He charts we just got (III & IV) is not necessary to proceed. In fact, they can be sold later if needed.

• Sail to Mombasa
• Sail to Mogadishu
• Sail to Jeddah
• Sail to Hormuz
• Sail to Muscat
• Sail to Diu
  1. Claim East Africa Expedition Record the moment you arrive in Diu
• Sail to Calicut
• Go to Teahouse

Chapter four is simple, but it is long. You will be sailing all the way through the pacific, around South America, do a side-trip to Europe, then explore the Caribbean. It is not difficult per se, just a lot of sailing.

• Auto-Sail to Gia Dinh
• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy the necessary Rice (until you have 30)

  Note: If you already have 30 combined Rice in your ship and warehouse, you can skip this step.

• Go to the Pier
  1. Change your cabin to have 30 cargo capacity
  2. Transfer all the Rice to your fleet
• Auto-Sail to Zhangzhou
• Go to the Maritime Trade Bureau
• Go to the Commerce Guild
  1. Accept Vendor Contract: Food Supply
  2. Submit the contract

  Note: Fulfill the contast this way saves going back and hiting many ports instead of only Gia Dinh.

• Go to the Pier
  1. Change your cabin to have a cargo capacity of 6

  Note: That’s all you’ll need for the rest of the game, for two of each crop you’ll gather. The rest will be supplies, which you’ll need since the space better port in the Pacific Ocean is large,

• Auto-Sail to Manila
• Go to the Moon Gaze Estate
• Sail to Ternate
• Sail to Ambon
• Sail to Dili

  Note: We’ll be visiting these cities so we can Auto-Sail back when we return to Asia.

• Sail to Samarai
• Go to the Teahouse
  1. Discover Woven Chart
  2. Use Woven Nautical Chart
  3. Level up Nasser to 31 and get his Negotiation to 6
  4. Level up Yun Mu to 31 and get her Biology to 4
  5. Level up Li Liyuan to 31 and get his Mapping to 6 (with the Kamal)
  6. Level up Garaba to 46. Put all the points gained in Sail Control.

  Note: Nasser and Yun Mu need those specific skills to pass the checks for How to Grow Corn, and Li Liyuan will need this level of Mapping later to cross the Atlantic. Garaba is self-explanatory at this point.

• Sail to Samoa following the charted route
• Sail to Hiva Oa following the charted route
• Sail to Whanganui following the charted route
• Sail to Lambayeque following the charted route
• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy two units of Corn
• Sail Northwest to the Galapados Island landing site
  1. Take Yun Mu, Nasser, Garaba, and Aji, along with full supplies
  2. Go straight Northeast (1N, 7NE) to find the exclamation point
  3. Use Nasser and Yun Mu do get How to Grow Corn
  4. Go back to the ship
• Sail North North East to Acapulco
  Go to Tea Stall
  1. Talk to Sailor
  2. Talk to Sailor again

  Note: You’ll need to talk to him twice, once to get bthe quest and once to finish it.

• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy two units of Sweet Potato
• Sail to Lima
• Go to Item Store
  1. Buy Nautical Chart: American West Coasts
• Sail to Copaipo
• Sail to Valparaiso
• Sail to Ushuaia
• Sail to San Antonio
• Sail to Bahia
• Sail to Pernambuco
• Sail to Cayenne
• Sail to Caracas
• Sail to Nassau
• Go to the Black Market
  1. Buy the Broken Golden Deer Nautical Chart
  2. Buy the Nautical Chart: the New World
• Sail to Havanna
  1. Grab the treasure (20 000 gold) at the southern part of the Florida Peninsula
• Go to the Item Store
  1. Buy Nautical Chart: American East coasts
  2. Use the Broken Golden Deer, New World, American West Coasts, and American East Coasts charts
• Sail to Veracruz
• Go to the Tea Stall
  1. Talk to Sailor
  2. Claim the America Coastal Port Inspection Record

  Note: That’s half the quest done. Now for the annoying part.

• Sail to Azores
• Sail to Lisbon
• Sail to Genoa
• Go to the Bookstore
  1. Buy La Galatea
  2. If necessary, sell any remaining equipment and ship material you might have. This includes Zheng He’s Nautical Charts III & IV that we haven’t used yet
  3. Teach Spanish to Yun Mu under the Skill Menu

  Note: Yes, you read it correctly, we have to do a side-trip all across the Atlantic, just because we need a Spanish speaker. Buying the book is the best solution, as all others require lengthy work to get (the easiest, William Ansel, would require us to come to Genoa anyway, and would mean we’d need to go to London first).

  Note 2: this is what was meant by running out of money. In both my game, I could not buy the book without selling equipment. You don’t need it anymore at this point, so it’s a moot point, but it still means that cash is short.

• Go to Pier
  1. Level up Maltim to as much as possible. Put all points into Sail Control.
  2. Assign Maltim as your second Sail Master with Garaba

  Note: That’s another advantage of using Genoa; you get Maltim Almeida Blanca. Starting at level 30, his Supply Utilization ability makes long voyages a lot easier. It’ll help going back to Asia in as few hops as possible.

• Sail to Seville
• Auto-Sail to Havana
• Go to Library
  1. Read Footprtints
• Sail to Veracruz
• Go to the Tea Stall
  1. Talk to Jimenez
• Go to the Trade Center
  1. Buy 2 Potato
• Sail to Caracas
• Auto-Sail to Zhangzhou

  Note: You won’t either the necessary supplies or the Mapping level to make it across in a single hop. You can do it in three (Lambayeque/Samoa/Zhangzhou), but the first part is close to the limit on supplies.

• Go to the Maritime Trade Bureau

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Thanks to Seraviel for his great guide, all credit to his effort. you can also read the original guide from Steam Community. enjoy the game.